The Cannes Film Festival is underway this year, and off-screen happenings are probably going to be just as dramatic as the plots of the star-studded premieres.
The much-awaited movies on the schedule include the independently funded movie Megalopolis by Francis Ford Coppola, and viewers will catch a glimpse of Sebastian Stan in The Apprentice as a youthful Donald Trump.
The most anticipated movies of the next two weeks will also feature the most recent entry in George Miller’s Mad Max series.
However, there are rumors that a number of performers and filmmakers may face public accusations of sexual assault; festival employees may go on strike, and an Iranian director is anticipated to attend just days after leaving his nation of origin following a prison sentence.
Here are a few things to watch out for when the Cannes red carpet arrives.
Mad Max has returned
The 2015 Cannes film debut of the highly acclaimed Mad Max: Fury Road, which won an Oscar, has a prequel called Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
Returning to direct, George Miller casts Anya Taylor-Joy as a younger Imperator Furiosa, replacing Charlize Theron.
This post-apocalyptic, action-packed thriller also stars Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke.
Francis Ford Coppola’s Love Affair
If you thought your pastimes were pricey, consider the $120 million (£95 million) legendary director Francis Ford Coppola spent on Megalopolis.
Alongside Laurence Fishburne and Dustin Hoffman, Adam Driver plays an architect who takes on the task of reconstructing a community devastated by the tragedy.
The 85-year-old might win the prestigious Palme d’Or again after taking home the top prize for Cannes in the 1970s for his roles in Apocalypse Now and The Conversation.
Arriving at the Trump biopic
You were wrong if you believed Cannes would offer some relief from the tensions surrounding the US presidential election.
This is due to the fact that The Apprentice chronicles the early years of Donald Trump’s political career.
Sebastian Stan plays a young Trump, and Maria Bakalova plays Ivana, his first wife. The director, Ali Abbasi, selected both actors.
Opponents have also voiced interest in watching Jeremy Strong, star of Succession, take on Roy Cohn, Trump’s mentor.
Aspirants for the Palme d’Or
The largest prize at Cannes is the Palme d’Or, and there is fierce competition once more.
Director of Barbie Greta Gerwig is in charge of the jury, and other celebrities on it include Oscar contender Lily Gladstone and French actor Eva Green.
Spanish director JA Bayona, Turkish author Ebru Ceylan, and Italian actor and producer Pierfrancesco Favino are among the panelists on the international jury.
The films in contention are The Apprentice, Megalopolis, and Bird, the most recent picture by British director Andrea Arnold, as well as All We Imagine as Light, directed by Payal Kapadia.
Reunited with filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos for their new picture, Kinds of Kindness, is Emma Stone, who won best actress at this year’s Oscars for her role in Poor Things.
Another contender is Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed of the Sacred Fig, for which he was found guilty last week of “collusion against national security” and sentenced to eight years in prison.
On Monday, though, his attorney claimed that he had left the nation covertly and would be attending the film’s Cannes premiere.
George Lucas, the man of Star Wars, and three-time Oscar winner Meryl Streep are also scheduled to receive honorary honors at the festival.
Me too
The MeToo movement has shaken previous Cannes film festivals, and it may do so once more.
It’s believed that more accusations of abuse by women within the European entertainment business may come to light.
Rumors have surfaced in the French media of a top-secret roster of prominent actors and directors who are allegedly abusive; this list may be made public during the event.
Judith Godrèche, a French director and actor, is also showcasing her short film, Moi Aussi, at the festival. The film is about victims of sexual violence.
She has accused two directors of abusing her while she was a teenager in the 1980s and is regarded as one of the leading protagonists in the French MeToo movement.
If the freelance workers at the festival carry out their threatened walkout over planned changes to French labor law, the celebration may come to an abrupt end.
For more information, you can visit https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqennljp4q5o
